London Rain - Night World England 1
by Becks
Summary: Yet another Redfern :) (am i predictable yet?) , the beginning of Night World England
1.

  
I threatened it didnt i! well here it is, Night World England :) thanks to Ki for replying to my  
Authors plea  
  
Circle Daybreak gets underfoot everywhere, even in the slightly sordid   
underworld of London's Night World population, working out of Soho the London   
council is less than pleased. And yet, all of this could be turned to good use, enter stage   
left Artemis Redfern, Hunter Redfern's younger sister, she's been running the show since   
he took his half breed kiddies and emigrated. And when the first lady of London's Night   
gets a little peeved, people tend to die, quietly, and not so quietly.  
  
  
She looked at her email readouts and smiled, it seemed today she had broken a profit,   
again. She looked out of the office window over the thronging restaurant district.   
Daytime in Soho, what was any better? Well she had to admit to herself with a slight   
smirk, the night time was certainly interesting.  
  
Turning away she looked through the one way mirror that separated her office from her   
secretaries and smiled. The girl was preening in front of the mirror checking her lipstick,   
pouting at what was actually a window. Shaking her head she moved out from behind the   
large wooden desk and stretched.   
  
The only problem with not looking a day over eighteen was the problems she tended to   
have with her subordinates. She'd seen the rise and fall of Richard III for gods sake, she   
didn't need lectures from vermin on how to run a business.   
  
Which is why very few vermin made it into her company, those that did either believed   
that she was a stalking horse for the 'real' Artemis Redfern or thought she was a child   
genius. There was only one vermin that actually knew the truth, and his lips were rather   
effectively sealed.   
  
The thought of the current prime minister, weak kneed idiot that he was, actually   
revealing the truth of the money behind his power base was ludicrous. Who'd believe   
him if he told the worlds press that he was backed by vampires. The majority of which   
were lead by an eighteen year old multibillionaire. He'd be locked away before he could   
say 'garlic press'.   
  
Of course, it was all true. The intercom on her desk beeped and balancing her hip on the   
edge she leant over gently and pressed the white button that let her hear her secretaries   
voice.   
  
"Yes Siren?" A pause before a light breathy voice "Your two o clock appointment's here   
Miss Redfern" she shook her head before answering "Thankyou, show him in" Siren   
Agincourt was a circle midnight witch of astounding power, but you wouldn't think it   
when she talked or walked, or did anything, she was also fanatically devoted. It was nice.  
  
She walked back around the desk and looked out of the window, hearing the door click   
open but not deigning to turn around until almost thirty seconds later. The man standing   
in front of her desk was a beautiful sight to behold, dark brown hair with a sheen like   
mahogany was cut into a loose style around his head, a light fringe cut across his   
forehead, from there the narrow iron circles of designer glasses fitted with plain glass hid   
but did not obscure eyes of the purest emerald.  
  
He had to be around 6'2 and the long leather bikers jacket only emphasised the height.   
The gold ring in his ear showed the same thing, he wasn't a man to be tangled with, but   
she could feel the smile that twitched at the corners of her mouth. He was hard as nails,   
but, he also had a son who was kicking up quite a dust in the old US of A if her sources   
were to believed. It must run in the family, although hopefully not being soulmated to a   
Daybreaker "Jared, it was good of you to come to this side of the town for this months   
meeting" A shrug answered her Jared Blackthorn was an enigma, he also headed the dark   
council in her name.  
  
She sat perched on the edge of the desk and motioned him to the chair behind it, she   
didn't keep another chair in the office, she'd found that either standing while she talked   
or keeping the person she was speaking to standing was quite effective in her business   
deals. Jared settled into the depths of her leather chair in a single cat like movement   
before removing the glasses and looking up at her with deep jewel eyes.  
  
"Daybreak seem to have bought one of the clubs in the district" she felt her eyebrows   
raise, the district was exclusive, you had to be a card carrying member to get in and it was   
strictly Night Worlders after lights out, Daybreak had lost agents in there, and vermin   
were lost every night. The very thought brought a touch of a smile to the edges of her   
mouth but it was gone when she fired a question off. "Which club?" he raised an eyebrow   
as if to doubt the validity of her question but answered anyway.   
  
"Lovers Downfall, although by the work going on it'll soon be renamed" she nodded, it   
wasn't a good club to have been sold. But then it didn't belong to her, that had been   
rectified within the rest of the district. She'd thought it had been rectified with this one, it   
seemed she was wrong, and of course there would be hell to pay when she got hold of   
Ebony Herodarkess, the midnight witches were getting a little over feisty. And that   
simply would not do, especially selling out to the damnable Daybreaker's.  
  
For a moment she watched Jared massage the bridge of his nose before she frowned   
"What's with the haircut and dye job?" he almost smiled a little quirk at the corner of his   
mouth "I spent a little time over the water" his voice had mellowed slightly loosing its   
clipped accents and gaining the slightest hint of his Irish background around the vowels.   
"America?" he nodded "The good old colonies, and when I was mistaken for my own son   
four times I thought it best to change the look"   
  
That won a laugh from her, she could imagine the looks that the Daybreaker's who'd   
made the mistake would have received, "Did anyone who mistook you survive?" a slight   
smile that she knew his son would probably never possess suddenly graced his lips, it was   
old blood and deadly things happening after dark. "Of course not, my dear lady Redfern,   
you seem to have forgotten. I am not my son" She shook her head in mock self reproach   
"Of course, my mistake, did you catch a glimpse of the boy, which I suspect was your   
reason for going"   
  
His smile retreated to its corner "I carried out that little objective, he could be my older   
brother" her eyebrows raised "How old is he now?" one of his eyebrows quirked "Close   
on 21 and looking it, must be the Redfern he's keeping company with" She reached over   
and slapped the shoulder of his coat "Its not my fault that so many of my brothers   
descendants are turning into sappy Daybreaker's I find it a great disappointment. But   
none of them have had the misfortune to take up with a half human"   
  
That brought a flash deep in emerald eyes, annoyance tempered by humour. They'd been   
irritating the hell out of each other since the Regency, they weren't going to stop now.   
But they were friends and in the Night World's higher echelons that was rare beyond   
belief. "No, but one of them IS a half human" she made a small moue of distaste, "Please,   
don't remind me, at least Hunter tried to get rid of her." He nodded and rose from the   
chair "I have to get gone now my lady, this club though?" She nodded, "I'll deal with it   
as best I can, can I count on you for backup mon ancien ami ?"   
  
He was moving towards the door before he turned to look at her and then he winked "Of   
course, if I get to play with your secretary?" she sighed, an eternal child, he may only   
look twenty years old, but honestly. "If you must, remember she's quite capable of   
fending you off without me" a quickly smothered grin flashed onto his face "Ah but the   
challenge Artemis, the challenge" And then he was out of the door and perched on the   
edge of her secretaries desk, flirting with mischievous abandon.  
  
Shaking her head she put her head down on the desk and laughed until she cried.   
  



	2. 

The sun had crashed behind the horizon and the moon was rising. She could feel it slicing through the plate glass of the window behind her touching her skin with icy fingers. Standing from behind the desk she stretched. It was rare for the moon to break through the clouds and pollution that hazed the London skyline. But when it did it touched everything, the wolves would be out in force tonight.   
  
She could pass among them with immunity, she was a Lamia, they were rare in Britain, Made Vampires and Were creatures abounded but many of the Lamia families had emigrated to avoid the purges of the nobility under Cromwell, her brother had gone. She had remained. Even now she could remember the moonlit dock and the boat bound for Chesapeake bay, her brothers hair catching the lanterns fire and throwing it back burning a thousand times brighter.  
  
"I cannot stay Artemis, not after I've struck this devils bargain with the witches, I want a chance to distance myself. To work it out" there had been an odd pain under his voice, of course finding out you had a vermin soulmate could do that to a man already married to the Maiden. She had held her chin up, looking at him, he was letting himself age for the first time in centuries, to be a father to his children. "I understand Hunter, but I will stay, the Redfern's Rule. They always have, and they will as long as I have breath in my body"   
  
That had brought a smile, brief as winter sunshine on snow. He had bent then and kissed her cheek. "Brave heart little goddess, take care, never forget" Then he had turned and run up the gang plank, as if to stay had suddenly become to much of a pain. She had watched until the boat pulled out into the channels of the Thames. Then she had turned and returned to her life, and how she had chosen to live it.  
  
The same moon touched her now, and silvered the tears on her cheeks. She never wept unless she was alone, but she mourned her brother, the fact that he was gone and would never burn so brightly beside her again hurt her heart. She scrubbed at her face and crossed to the small dressing room at the side of her office. Tonight she was going out as herself, Artemis the untouchable, the nights virgin goddess. The room was a dressing room, small enough to be almost unnoticeable in the plate glass and oak of her office but large enough to hold outfits for when home was too far away and the time was short.  
  
She flicked through the outfits and drew out a leather mini dress. It was a matte black colour and should have looked tacky, but the sharp clean lines stopped that and instead fitted it like a glove. No bra, simple underwear. She pulled on a pair of inch high stilettos in the same black leather, made of straps that wound up her legs and knotted like ballet slippers around her knee.   
  
Turning she looked into the mirror and smiled. She was 5'5 in heels, tall for the time of her birth, below average now. But she made up for it, many short people looked unfinished in a world that loved long legs and curvy figures. She filled her dress, but she was svelte, her muscles easy under a tiny layer of fat, her breasts curved out of the top the dress were large but not enough to make her top heavy. Her face was what attracted the most men, she had the sharp angled features that all Redfern's seemed to share with a sharp pixie like chin. Her eyebrows winged upwards in almost straight lines towards her temples, her nose was slightly snubbed at the end over a generous mouth.   
  
Her eyes marked her apart, they were shimmering changing things. Rare even in the Redfern line, Maya's eyes. Tonight they were a dark gold that showed she had been thinking what Jared would have called 'sad thoughts' Her hair was loose it fell in a tumble to her knees, she could have cut it, should have to fill the role of business woman but she couldn't bare to. Her mother had loved her hair, it was a curling mass of hair such a dark red that it possessed black highlights, blood under the stars her brother had said once to make her laugh.  
  
She turned from the mirror and banished the thoughts to the back of her mind. It didn't matter now, the slight knock on the wall told her that her car was here, tonight she was gracing the Black Mamba with her presence. They wouldn't be ready of course, that was how she ran her inspections, even her little squad didn't know where she was going until she told them.  
  
Stepping out of the office she looked at Siren and smiled, the girl looked a Harman to her bones, pity her father had been the Harman. Platinum blonde hair skimmed her shoulders and lilac eyes were large in a face almost as pointed as her's. She was wearing a little sheath dress made of red silk that fell to her knees before dispersing into a black voile mist. With the tiny heels she was wearing she still stood around four inches taller than she could ever hope to be.  
  
One eyebrow raised "I didn't know you were man hunting tonight Siren?" the girls face flushed "I'm not particularly but Jared said he might pop by" "Ah" she nodded blandly, but she had to train her eyes down, because she knew they would be laughing. Jared had this one hook line and sinker, he really was the incurable flirt.   
  
They were moving now towards the doors, there were two men waiting there, they always stood in front of the doors to her office. Her inner sanctum and she smiled up at them, it irritated her sometimes that all the women were so tall but men were meant to be taller than women and she like it that way. "Boy's anyone special planned for tonight?" it was amazing that two Nigh Worlders a shifter and a Vampire, both over one hundred could be reduced to blushing like school boys at that sort of question.   
  
"No Ms Redfern, no one" she looked to Namir who shrugged "No one In particular Ms Redfern, I might look up some vermin though" she let a half smile creep onto her face "Try to finish what you star though, hmm, no messy piles of entrails in Soho back streets please" he made a mock sigh and turned to the other "Sometimes Braeden she's just not fair" The vampire who had stood outside her door from almost ten minutes after she'd made him smiled. "No, I suppose not, but then I'm not a messy eater like you"  
  
She made a light gesture with her fingers towards the exit and walked behind them to the stairs, going down vampire quick, there were no security cameras. If someone got through the wards she had on the place, robbed it, and managed to live a full and healthy life then good luck to them.  
  
The limousine that was waiting was a work of art, dark as midnight without that tacky sheen that so many cars had. It was her business Limo, she preferred to drive a vintage jaguar when she had a choice. They slid in to the back, Namir sliding into the front seat to drive, she hadn't had a permanent driver since daybreak had shot a man who'd been with her for over a century.   
  
They pulled out into the London traffic and where in it for all of five minutes, a Friday night made the time high, she could have walked faster. But then that would have given away the fact that she'd come straight from the office. And that wouldn't suit her purposes at all.  
  
Pulling up outside the club she let a little smile grace her features and eyes that were a sudden sparkling jade. "On with the motley my children, and in we go" And she slid gently out of the back of the car and into the storm of the Friday night club scene.  



	3. 

Thanks to All that commented on TTales and to Nav and Sairah ho left me a note :)  
  
  
The queue outside the 'Mamba was about medium sized, from the door to the corner of the street. The sight brought a smile, Night Worlders abound, probably a few Daybreakers, a mix of accents and race's to delight the eye. There may be specieisim within the Night World, but no one was going to be judged for the colour of their skin. She spotted people who screamed vermin, here and there, normally on the arm of one of the Night World kids.   
  
Her name was called in welcome from somewhere to the left and she turned, and froze. Then she let her breathing even out, for a moment she had been catapulted back centuries by the look of streetlights on burning hair. Lucifer Redfern could have been his Grandfathers twin. Roseclear's only child, she had obviously been praying for Harman genetics to show as they had in Lily's eldest boy, the genetics hadn't failed.  
  
He strode over and lifting her hand pressed a light kiss on the underside of her wrist "Aunt Amaris, you look enchanting" she rolled her eyes before looking up at him, it was irritating that he was the shortest of her brothers mob at 6'0 but he was still taller than her. "Lucifer, or are you Luke this evening?" she said mock peering over his shoulder, he heaved a sigh "I'm Lucifer this evening Auntie dearest" for a second her eyes flashed from Jade to silver and then back again. "I'm not your aunt, at least not in the truest sense, just drop it and call me Artemis like everyone else does"   
  
For a moment gold eyes clouded and then he half smiled "Very well, and you? Business or pleasure tonight?" she looked him up and down. Immaculate in black like a dark candle only the slightly more refined bones of his face let you know that he wasn't Hunter, it was what had driven him out of America at only eighteen and straight to his aunt. The constant hounding from both sides of the Night World, another of her great nieces had helped smuggle him out. "Both, nothing changes, who thought you were Hunter this time?"  
  
Sudden surprise registered in his eyes. "One day you're going to tell me how you do that, it was one of your Lamia, some man, with black hair and green eyes." For a moment she was taken aback, Jared had met Lucifer before in the two years he had been here. But then even she was still shocked sometimes by the resemblance. If she hadn't known, hadn't been sure that Lamia never returned. She shook her head for a moment. Eyes a sudden burnished bronze "Try not to blame him, what did he say" his grin bloomed a mischievous expression "He said I reminded him of a painting he'd seen"   
  
A chill raced down her spine, she knew that painting, it hung in her private study at home. There were probably copies, but. No the thought was to horrible to contemplate. "Artemis? Artemis are you alright" concerned golden eyes, she made the effort to smile, even the touch of moonlight suddenly cold against her flesh "He's right, you do resemble the painting, of course I've never seen you as a cavalier but you resemble the painting" he blinked twice and then smiled again. Footloose and fancy free, she saw the others gathered a little way off and waved.  
  
"I have to go in Lucifer" he nodded, but there was something dazed in his eyes "Take care, I have a bad feeling" she blinked the sliver crossing her eyes like a shadow across the sun "I will, you too" he blinked and then leant to kiss her cheek before turning and fading into the shadows, she turned and walked back to the others. Nodding to Braeden she had a path cleared for her to the door. The limo was double parked but she didn't care, no one would put a ticket on something with those plates in the district, and outside, well, she could afford a few tickets.  
  
Stepping into the club was like stepping into another world, a steamy fantasy jungle, filled with dangerous creatures. The ceiling was a mass of green leaves and vines, the temperature a steamy ninety in the shade. The bar did a roaring trade here, the dance floor revolved on its own pedestal in the midst of water, the slightly more exotic shifters favoured this place. As did the visitors from abroad, she had offices concealed in a screen of trees, all of the plants were real, a green fingered twilight witch was on the books to keep them healthy.   
  
She moved over to a tiny alcove, surrounded by flowering clematis and night jasmine, the club was a haven for people who lived through their senses, seating herself at the table she sent Siren onto the dance floor and waited, for a moment the people moving in front of the alcove almost seemed to waver and then a slender figure was there. A shining blonde dressed all in white, if she hadn't known him for a made vampire she would have said he resembled one of the Galena clan bread to someone else to darken their trademark silver hair to that light honey colour.  
  
He slid in across from her and the boys instinctively moved to close the entrance, this was a private meeting. "Uriel, it was good of you to come" no sarcasm here, it was good of him to come because he certainly didn't have to, he was canny the Daybreak leader for London. He inclined his head "Don't tell me you've decided to convert Artemis?" she half smiled and shook her head "No, the Night World is the Night World it needs people like me, perhaps as much as it needs people like you and like Jubatus" for a moment light blue eyes were wide and then he retreated back into calm. "Somehow I don't think you believe that" she raised her eyebrows "Jubatus saves children, more importantly he does it far from me, you recruit for circle Daybreak, then I know where you all are at one time. Does that summation make you more comfortable?"  
  
A nod answered her and she let herself smile, the fact that she saw a purpose for the Daybreakers was something that Uriel seemed to have problems seeing. Daybreak gave Night Worlders someone to hate except each other, they kept law and order at a maximum, at least Night World law. She approved of the Jubatus orphanage, it appealed to the part of her nature that pitied Night World children. She was not however, ever going to be a Daybreaker, vermin were not equal, nor were they Night Worlders, giving them equal status would only end in tears. More witch hunts, more Van Helsings, people hunting the beasts that roamed the night and knowing that they were there. Vigilante hunting groups like the Silver Arrows were bad enough without being sanctioned by the government to chase them down.   
  
"Back to business" she broke her own almost trance to talk about what was going on "You've bought a club in the district" he blinked, as if he was surprised she knew and then nodded cautiously "Why?" her voice was cool and sweet as if the question was only a passing interest. "Because I wanted a CD club, I don't see why everywhere should be Night World" she allowed a sigh to creep under her defences.  
  
"Its simple, you're inviting a firebomb, a raid, attacks. The business will loose money big time, I've never had a bankrupt business in the district since I took it over in the 1700's"he tossed his head, it was a surprisingly feminine gesture, she sniggered to herself while keeping her face straight, only the deep blue of her eyes showed her amusement. "I'm going to try" she waved a languid hand "Please, do try, and when you sell out, remember me, won't you?"   
  
He stood, and nodded "I shall" and then he was gone, the boys remained quiet and she looked up to meet a pair of jewelled eyes. "You caught the end of that?" Jared nodded "I did, he's a stubborn ass but he does what he's supposed to" she raised her eyebrows "Perhaps and yet, and yet"   
  
What she was going to say remained unsaid, important or not because a scream rang out across the suddenly silent club. It was a mans scream, a sudden pain filled sound. She stood, her eyes silvering as blood suddenly tainted the air with a metallic smell sharp and clear as snowfall. She looked across the cubicle, Jared was gone, wherever it was it had better be being useful.   
  
She moved out of the cubicle in a sudden sharp movement, Uriel was on the dance floor, his eyes half closed and blood leaking from him like some sort of black cloak, mingling with his hair dying the golden strands black under the lights. She glanced around her eyes silver, there were no vermin in the club, they never got past the entry line. But there was a stake through the Circle Daybreak deputy's heart and Jared was missing.  
  
  
  



	4. 

She shifted into the milling crowds as if they should part for her by right. And they did, because it was her right, the Redfern's ruled, and that was as it should be. Her body guards had fallen back, shocked she supposed. Her mind running hyper fast, she raised a hand and silence fell over the club.  
  
"Seal the doors, no one goes out or comes in until I say so" she watched as several of her people detached themselves from the stirred crowd and blocked the exit , then she turned and knelt next to Uriel. His eyes were empty, but he had been dead a short time, she gently touched her fingers to his eyes and pushed outwards with her telepathy.   
  
It had been a Romany who'd taught her to do this, the eye held the last moments, a silent witness to the crimes it had seen. She gently opened herself and let his memories enfold her. He had been watching the dancers, waiting for something, and then a sudden blow from behind. Stunned he had turned and the stake had taken him through the chest. Falling there had been a glimpse, long legs in a short skirt and eyes like fire. A molten gold flame.  
  
She opened her eyes again, but they were flat and far away, she could hear people talking near her but was unconcerned, if anyone touched her they weren't going away the same way they'd arrived. The anger she'd felt was fading from being flaming hot to chilling, she could almost feel the goosebumps on her skin as she stood. The skirt of her dress was plastered with dark blood.  
  
"There is a traitor in out midst" for a second her quiet announcement didn't seem to penetrate and then the whispers fluttered around the room. She looked up into nearly a hundred pairs of dangerous eyes, she wasn't afraid, these were her people. Blood called to blood in the most elemental sense here.  
  
"Those of you not of London may leave now, this is an internal matter" Three broke for the door, they would be escorted out of the district, of course they would be lightly probed before they were dropped off. But she didn't think they were her murderers. She had suspicions and they were growing second by second.  
  
Looking back into the feral eyes around her she smiled again, then leaning down she made a scooping motion and stood again smearing the side of her face with blood. She looked like an unnatural phantom of the opera. The blood was drying warm against her skin, a tacky wetness, she felt her lips curl into a smile, the delicate tips of her fangs indenting her lips.  
  
"Blood calls to blood, one of our own was murdered tonight" a voice from out of the darkness "He was a Daybreaker" she didn't turn but her eyes flared a deep hunting sliver, burning like the heart of a star. "He. Was. Mine." She calmed her voice from its hard promise of death with a real effort of will. "You are all mine that walk the darker paths of London, you know that, now I want you out on the streets, I want results"  
  
For a moment, when she turned away, it almost looked as if that was going to be the end of it. The crowd stirred like a hungry sea before she turned and looked over her shoulder. The lights catching on the blood but leaving her eyes in shadow.  
  
"Whoever it is, I want them alive"  
  
And then she walked out of the door. She could feel them at her back, Braeden, Siren, Namir and, Lucifer, who should have been away from her by now. Turning she looked at him, those golden eyes were full of worry. So easy to read, so humanised, she wondered if this was what America had done to the Night World. Made them Verminous.  
  
"What Lucifer?" His eyes shut down at the faint boredom in her tone, she hated the fact but felt the necessity. Redfern's, blessed and cursed, he was blessed with all their finer traits, now he needed to be hardened, just enough to give him a shell. Just enough to hate.  
  
"Artemis, I want to help" she looked into those eyes, so alike, and yet so far apart. She nodded in decision "You can help. Stick close to me because I have a feeling, perhaps more than a feeling"  
  
Sliding into the limo he followed her, looking puzzled and slightly worried. There was a gift of prophecy in the Redfern line. "What do you mean Artemis?"  
  
The door closed shutting out the light for a moment, and in that space of seconds she spoke.  
  
"I have the feeling that tonight's death is only the first, and mine may be the last"  
  
Lucifer was silent after that, she had probably shocked him, she had shocked herself. For those were not the words she had meant to say, a shiver rocked her backbone and for the first time in over three hundred years she could feel the spectre of death hovering over her shoulder.  



	5. 

He was running like a fool. London's back streets weren't safe at any time, let alone now, now he would be hunted. Why had she asked him to do it, why had he agreed? But he could still see her eyes, looking through him as if he wasn't there and her fingers wrapped around his soul.  
  
Trying to out run the wind, trying to out run his demons that fled after him like storm winds. Impossible to beat them as they hunkered down in his mind and shrieked in savage glee, but he could try, he could run all night if he had too because only in exhaustion would he be able to sleep without dreams. The nightmares would come, and she would be there with burning eyes and icy hands but the dreams, the dreams that haunted him with worse things, worse truths than even his darkest nightmare, exhaustion kept them away.  
  
Whatever happened he had to keep running, because the moment he stopped everything would shatter, mind ,body and spirit.  
  
In the darkness he ran on.  
  
***  
  
The boys had brought her home, to her surprise Lucifer was still with her she had almost decided to put him up for the night, it wouldn't do any harm, he was family. Of course that wouldn't keep her safe from treachery that bond of blood, it hadn't saved her brother…..  
  
She shook the melancholy thoughts away and unlocked the door of the private elevator, a lazy gesture of her hand motioned Lucifer inside and she followed. Every wall was mirrored, every mirror a sensor or a camera. Here she guarded her privacy fiercely, this was her home and had been for well over a century now, rigorously updated, but home none the less.  
  
The lift stopped and she inserted a pass card which allowed her access to her own corridor, she'd caught an assassin that way once, he'd picked the lock on the elevator but hadn't been able to get out, after she'd killed him the carpets had had to be replaced. Too much time with shifters had made her slightly messy when angry.  
  
She stepped out into a neutral hallway, the mental institution green that she'd painted it tended to make her enemies nervous and the few friends she'd invited up calm, the carpet was a deep oatmeal colour, it looked as if should have been cheap but it wasn't, ever inch of it was coated with pressure sensors, if someone came to get her then she intended to know about it.  
  
Her door was a work of art, spiralling patterns of leaves drew the eyes, it looked delicate and ethereal, and was made of lignum vitae, the hardest wood in the world, it wasn't going to be broken by much less than a full body rush and any vampire assassin that tried it, well, the ending would be painful.  
  
Lucifer's whistle of appreciation was noted in the back of her mind as she slipped her key into the slot. It was nice that he hadn't lost his sense of taste being brought up in America, she'd often looked at their ideas of art and cringed. She looked at the sitting room that lay just beyond the door and felt a smile creep onto her face, it was perfect.  
  
The walls were a light yellow pattered in an even lighter shade, the furniture was a deep cream leather and the polished hardwood floor had two beautiful hand-woven white rugs on it. The painting over the fire drew the eye, as it was meant too. It showed four people in period costume, mid Tudor. The two men couldn't have been more different, One was dark haired, mink brown, with frowning blue eyes in a pointed face, the other was hunter, looking about nineteen hair a deep blood red over laughing golden eyes. The two women were also different, her mother, deep black merciless eyes lightened by the artist so that they only looked hawkish, hair so blonde that it looked white against the darkness of her fathers doublet. And right at the front, smiling with an almost childlike air….  
  
"That's you!" She turned to look at Lucifer's stunned face the corner of her mouth tipping up. "Your powers of observation astound me" She watched as he continued to study the painting, his eyes resting for the longest time on Hunters face "We do look alike" Her head inclined "There is a more than passing resemblance, but the differences are there, for those that look" She knew that look, the wounded curiosity and she sighed "Ask" He didn't try to pretend he didn't know, he just asked "Where's the difference?"   
  
Where to begin, to her there was an endless list, but he wouldn't want a full rundown on his character. "Your face is better defined, its your Harman genes, and you don't have the same spirit" For a moment it looked as if he was going to remain silent and the he spoke "I'm glad, I wouldn't want to be remembered as a heartless butcher"  
  
She slapped him then, it sent him careening across the room and into the fireplace, when he looked up something in his eyes was stunned, as if he'd forgotten that she was centuries old and had only seen the tiny body. "You talk like a Daybreaker" It wasn't the violent hiss she'd expected her voice was flatly calm as she advanced on this boy who looked so like her lost brother. "People put their lives at risk to save you" Darkness bloomed in the gold and his thoughts almost shouted at her, this time her answer was a hiss.   
  
"You judge your cousin by your morals, how dare you" she wanted to pick him up and shake him "She risked her life to get you to me, because you were family, perhaps I should have let her drop you on Descoudre's doorstep, you would make a good Daybreaker" She turned away and looked back up at the portrait tracing the aged cracks in Holbeins work, she felt Lucifer pick himself off of the floor and watch her. "He was a murderer" She didn't turn "He was family, blood is thicker than water"   
  
The silence stretched "Anywhere else justice is more important than family" it wasn't said like an accusation, merely as if he was trying to puzzle something out "This is the Night World, things don't happen that way here" Another silence and then a sigh "Daybreak manage though" She laughed and it was mirthless "They're trying to escape" for a second he was moving a rapid back and forth pacing before he spoke "They seem to be succeeding" his accent was disappearing, a good thing, eventually he wouldn't want to be traced by it. "You can't escape the Night World" she turned back to him eyes flickering from colour to colour "Its in the blood, so to speak"   
  
He looked to be readying an argument but she pinned him with eyes that were a sudden burning silver. "Don't name names, I can rip all your arguments to shreds" he still looked defiant and she slumped onto the sofa in a parody of her normal grace "Give me a name then, I see you want to" A sudden flash of malice deep in his eyes brought a suppressed smile to the front of her mind, he was learning fast, even if it didn't register "Delos Redfern" Every muscle in her body flinched, that had been calculated cruelty that she had thought was still beyond him but she met his eyes, her own a deep gold misted with grey.  
  
"Very, very, good Lucifer, you've learnt to hate already, I would have thought it to take longer" His entire body flinched and she felt the vindication of revenge. "Delos killed to save his soulmate, like an animal caught in a trap, he killed to get his own way, his grandfather and over one hundred others. It is the Night World way, but it is normally family against outsiders, only the soulmate connection, the Redfern curse negates it. Even Lynx would kill to protect family for all her assassins morals"  
  
Lucifer was still, a battle waging in his eyes, she saw to the very moment when the part of him that knew the Night World worked won over the part that wanted in on the Daybreak heroic of his cousins. He looked like Hunter but he wasn't, he was too easily won over, too interested in the feelings of others, too human. But it was changing and changing fast, the Night World bread monsters, and so when they grew they became monsters to survive. Any softness had to be coated in a thousand tonnes of steel so that it was never noticed, ever kind word surrounded by venom until you were unassailable.   
  
Some said that the way of the Night World was killing them, destroying hearts and minds, but it didn't, because of the soulmate connection, because of the hope they held, that once they were free of hunters, of people who killed for the joy of it, that they could be what they had once been. She couldn't believe it, but she would respect the right of the others, like Lucifer to try, but she wanted them to protect themselves, not leave it all open to assassination like Daybreak.   
  
He was watching her and she let her eyes slip into the deep morning glory blue that reflected her own brand of content. "To bed now Lucifer, dream of peace and perhaps we'll attain it" The change of subject caught him for a moment and then he smiled at the fragile olive branch "I'll try Amaris, but I'm more likely to dream of blood" She nodded, understanding mirrored in her eyes and a twinkle of mischief "Try not to mess the bed up this time" he flushed and walked away towards the guest room she occasionally leant him.  
  
She wouldn't sleep tonight, turning she looked into the flames in the fireplace, dreams of blood were bad enough, tonight she feared to dream of betrayal.  



	6. 

to Everyone who's been reading along :) im SOOOOOOOO sorry this bit has taken so long, exams, crisises and writers block ! but here it is, R&R or i'll get bored and thats a bad thing :):):):):):)  
  
  
"Artemis?" She snapped awake in a second, her prophecy of dreams had failed to be fulfilled, her sleep had been deep and dreamless. "Yes Lucifer" He stepped into view and shook his head "I thought for a mere moment that I might have caught you sleeping, I see I was wrong" she smiled to herself, no need to cure the young of their illusions.  
  
She slid off of the couch in an easy sinuous movement and smiled at him, "There's no rest for the wicked" With anyone else she would have followed that statement with a wink, but with Lucifer she doubted his ability to take the statement in humour. Raw colour flooded his face "Amaris…I.." She flicked a finger in a reproving gesture before moving into the small study, a light was beeping.  
  
"Keep whatever it is behind your teeth for the moment, I've got mail" she tapped a series of random patterns onto the desk and a screen flipped over, "Hmm no one I know, but since this accounts known only to a few it must be important" She pecked quickly at the keyboard, she wasn't a technical whiz kid but she managed.   
  
Lucifer watching caught the slight paleness in her face and acted on instinct "Amaris, what's wrong?" Her eyes flashed from the deep bronze of distress to a pure black, so dark he was sure he could almost see stars there, she made a motion that told him to read her mail.   
  
The screen was a secure mail server in black and silver decoration, his eyes travelled down to the message.  
  
From : LadyBeelzebub@WorldsEnd.net  
To : NightsFirstLady@nightworld.co.uk  
  
I find you more than unfit to rule, prepare to go down in the time honoured way, and the blade will bite you as it did the hunter, when a tame falcon turns on your hand.  
  
You Have Been Warned  
  
She was beyond furious as she watched Lucifer read, so far beyond that one more step would send her careening into a blood driven rage. He turned to her, confusion in misted topaz eyes "What does it mean?" she hauled in the reins of her temper, stopping herself right at the edge of zero tolerance. "It's a challenge, a warning if you like, there'll be an attempt on my life, an effort at a coup to thrust me from power" He studied the message again "And the bit about the hawk?" that was the horrible part, the thing she had feared since last night, but she said it, admitting it at last to the open air.  
  
"That means I've been betrayed"  
***  
  
She smiled as the tiny alarm on her laptop went off, message received by recipient, she knew Artemis well enough to anticipate the moments of blood fuelled rage she'd suffer; the Redfern temper was infamous, now was the time to move on, the time to act in stealth was over, now she could literally take the prize and her solution was at hand.  
  
She looked up and motioned with her eyes her partner walked across the room "Its time" The other woman nodded before running a caressing hand over her cheek. They left the room together, walking into a hall that was almost full of people. "My children it is time, the Redfern's and their Vampire underlings have repressed us long enough, protecting their vermin, and keeping open connections with the Daybreak scum. Now is the time to act, now is the time for us to rule"  
  
The roar of approval that met her statement was almost drowning, she looked around for him and found him missing, it brought a slight frown to her face. She turned to the woman beside her. "Siren, where is he?" The younger witch scanned the hall, and seemed to come to the same conclusion.  
  
"I haven't seen him since yesterday night, after the club" Her voice had a sudden over tone of dislike to it, apparently the club idea had been one she didn't like, but it was necessary. All of it was necessary, and now their tame hawk had flown the nest, this was not a good thing, not a good thing at all.  
  
"The shock troops have left?" Her partner nodded and she smiled. "Then it doesn't matter where he's gone, even if he tries to warn her he'll never get there in time.  
  
***  
  
  
She had ripped herself back into violent control at the same time as the motion sensors on the hallway carpet had gone off, the fact the ones on the lift had been disabled showed this to be an inside job, but then she already knew that. Her eyes flashed over to Lucifer, the reflection in the screen showing them to be a dark burning blue black.  
  
"How good are you with weapons" His eyes flashed and then covered over like a smokescreen, "I can use a gun, and I have a black belt in three martial arts" A beginner for someone in her operation, but good enough, she pulled one corner of the fireplace and the entire thing moved revealing a dark wood cabinet, they didn't have long.  
  
Moving with a speed only the technically dead could manage, she walked in and tossed a few things out to her nephew. "Pair of Colt peacemakers, put them around your waist, put the sawn off repeater across your back and strap on all of the bullets in some way or another, if you loose me, then head for the country. I know it sounds beyond belief but Daybreak will take you in, I've done them a few favours in my time." She didn't add her final thought, if you get out of the city alive. She certainly wouldn't have let any of her predecessors relatives get out alive, in fact when she had been with Hunter at the taking of London none of them had gotten out alive, of course that had been werewolves, the grudge memory was shorter.   
  
Now all she had to do was outfit herself, there were a few things that couldn't be left behind, she carefully strapped the Redfern sword to her waist, the swords shape had been changed in the seventeenth century to allow it to be more easily hidden, but the stark design remained the same. The giant pigeon blood ruby in the middle of a platinum basket hilt, on the stone itself was the family crest, the star eyed lion engraved forever. The knives she managed to strap on quickly, good thing she was still wearing the outfit she had put on in the early hours of the morning to pace.  
  
Suddenly she swore and raced into the back bedroom to grab a duster coat and pair of bikers boots, she pulled them on before grabbing a dazzling array of weaponry and placing on and around herself, finishing off with an pair of jewelled stiletto's holding up her hair. Turning she found Lucifer watching her with an odd look on his face, she made a questioning gesture with her hand which he answered with a grin.  
  
"I was just thinking, if we weren't related, we should date" his voice was almost subvocal but was still laughing, almost teasing her. A smile flashed, breaking the tension that had held her face. "I'm afraid that we are related though, so at the moment we'll have to drop the dating idea." Her own voice sounded cool but her amusement had dimmed the blaze in the killing blue of her eyes.  
  
A crash in the background heralded the beginning of the end of her door, she couldn't help the smile that was creeping onto her face, the bloodlust was rising. Reaching back into the cupboard she flipped the switch she found there, before saluting the painting over the fireplace.  
  
Catching Lucifer by the back of his jacket she pushed him towards the window, it was thirteen stories down, jumping was not an option. Sliding the window open she pointed to a long gleaming stretch of wire, she wasn't going to speak so she gently reached out with her mind.  
  
*Put these on* she handed him a pair of leather gloves *Now slide the wire, and do it fast* pulling on her own gloves she watched him go, he wasn't rappelling down, he was simply letting his weight drag him, faster and faster. The gloves would rip through before he reached the ground, a sharp crack behind her and a cry of pain. The door had broken.  
  
Turning squatting on the windowsill, like the ghouls of nightmare tales she watched them enter the apartment. Apparently she had been wrong about grudges not holding as long among the 'shifter community, three of the four were 'wolves and the fourth was a war witch, all were male, they could see her, silhouetted by the rising sun. Something in their eyes told her that they expected fear, she smiled, gently bringing a hand to her lips and blowing a kiss before falling backwards out of the window.  
  
A double somersault before she managed to catch the wire, impact biting it into her fingers, through the gloves, the stickiness of the blood seemed almost unreal, the pain as her body hit the wall didn't. Gathering speed as she hurtled downwards, the pain in her hands gained immediacy as the wire sliced through muscle and tendon it was why she wore gloves, even if the fingers detached if they were in close proximity to her hand they would heal.   
  
Her feet hit the black bags of rubbish that graced the back alley and she stumbled, Lucifer's fingers steadied her, and she walked him backwards until they hit the building. Looking up she saw the witch's head return to the room above he had obviously been watching to see if she survived. Looking at her wrist she smiled "Four" Lucifer's voice a murmur in the stillness "four what?"   
  
She shook her head "Three. Two. One" There was a sudden sound, like the whuff of a large amount of sand being dropped before the windows of every single flat in the apartment block shattered. A second later the penthouse roof exploded outwards in a volley of flame and debris. It was really quite an impressive show, she would have to compliment Morningstar next time she saw him, he really did know his stuff.   
  
Looking over her shoulder she saw the gleam in Lucifer's eyes as he watched the mounting flames, the slight smile curving his mouth was something spectacular to watch it brought his resemblance to her brother into close proximity. No wonder they had wanted him out of America. He shook his head and a brief expression of disgust chased its way across his features, it was then she caught it, he had been revelling in the destruction, perhaps the person who wanted her dead was doing her a favour after all, the boy was learning and learning fast.  
  
"Did they blow up your apartment Artemis?" She laughed before starting to stroll nonchalantly out of the alley way, beckoning him to follow. "Of course not, I blew up the flat, with them in it, it rather neatly stops them getting hold of anything of value, unless of course they try to raid the estate"   
  
She snickered at that thought, raiding the Redfern estate indeed, she doubted they could find anyone willing to even attempt to go through four centuries of magical and mundane protection, and if they did, well, they wouldn't get out again. *Where are we going?* Lucifer was a certain presence inside her mind, he sensed that she wouldn't want to talk about their destination out loud, sensible child. *The dark side of London, rebellion may have started here, the first skirmish if you like, is there's, but I'm going to the place where my support is, I intend to win this war if it kills me*  
  
The shiver that ran up her spine at that thought had to be wrong, but she wasn't going to count her hunters until she had fed them their own stakes, so, she was going into the dark heart of her territory, she was going to Camden, and then she was going to start killing people, the thought she had to admit, was a happy one.   
  



End file.
